Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas says the club is treating Friday like the final day of the transfer window amid links between star midfielder Houssem Aouar and Arsenal.
Aouar has been linked with a big-money move all summer, having emerged as a star for the Ligue 1 side.
The 22-year-old midfielder scored nine goals in 41 games last season, earning a place in the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season.
Aulas has claimed that Arsenal are reluctant to meet the club’s valuation of Aouar, although he did admit that Gunners boss Mikel Arteta remains a big fan of the midfielder.
![[FILE] Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) runs with the ball as Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel closes in during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London. (Photo by Catherine Ivill / POOL / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/000_97B779-scaled-e1703231851386-120x86.jpg "Liverpool host Arsenal in battle for Premier League Christmas No. 1 1")
The Gunners made a reported opening offer of €35 million (£32m/$41m), with Lyon hoping to get €60m (£55m/$70m) for the Frenchman.
Aulas is not the only Lyon star linked with a departure, as Memphis Depay has been widely liked with a move to Barcelona.
Such a move would see the attacker reunite with former Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman, who took charge of the Spanish side this summer.
And Arsenal and Barcelona will only have until Friday to meet that valuation as Aulas hopes to see all of Lyon’s comings and goings resolved by the weekend.
“We will tell the players that whatever will not be settled in terms of departures before Friday, there will be no more departures,” Aulas told Telefoot.
“So for us the [closing] date of the transfer window will be Friday. I think I will propose it tomorrow (Tuesday) to Rudi Garcia and Juninho, because it’s understandable.
“And all people of goodwill can see that there is something wrong [with the results of the team]. It can be because of that, but it can also be a lot of other things. In any case, from Friday, the players who have not left will not leave.”
Having qualified for the Champions League semi-finals, Lyon have struggled to start the Ligue 1 season, earning six points from their first five games.
On Sunday, Lyon will face a difficult match against Marseille, who themselves have struggled a little in collecting eight points so far this season.
Rennes currently sit atop Ligue 1, having dropped just two points through their first five games of the campaign.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
![[FILES] In this photo taken on September 15, 2016 women and children queue to enter one of the Unicef nutrition clinics at the Muna makeshift camp which houses more than 16,000 IDPs (internaly displaced people) on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. Aid agencies have long warned about the risk of food shortages in northeast Nigeria because of the conflict, which has killed at least 20,000 since 2009 and left more than 2.6 million homeless. In July, the United Nations said nearly 250,000 children under five could suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year in Borno state alone and one in five — some 50,000 — could die. / AFP PHOTO / STEFAN HEUNIS](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/idps-1062x598-1-75x75.jpg "Army pledges support to Borno govt relocation, resettlement of IDPs 7")